The Huntington Heroes were a professional indoor football franchise and member of the American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). The Heroes played their home games during their inaugural 2006 season at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse in Huntington, West Virginia, before moving to the larger Big Sandy Superstore Arena for the 2007 and 2009 seasons. The Heroes were the second indoor football franchise for Huntington, following the River Cities LocoMotives, who played one season (2001) in the National Indoor Football League, and were followed by the Huntington Hammer in 2011. The Heroes were usually known for featuring many former Marshall University football players from the Marshall Thundering Herd program located in Huntington.
The team's mascot, due in part to the name of their original arena, was a tribute to local military veterans. The uniform colors were red, white, and blue. The team wore blue helmets and blue home jerseys with white pants, and white away jerseys with red pants.
History
The Huntington Heroes made their debut on March 11, 2006, in front of 3,100 fans at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse with a 62–13 victory over the Miami Valley Silverbacks. Following their first road win the following week at Johnstown, the Heroes suffered the franchise's first defeat at home on March 25, 2006, to the Erie Freeze. The Heroes got their revenge two weeks later by defeating the Freeze in Erie, 55–33, handing the Freeze their first regular season loss since their inception and standing as the Heroes' first signature win.
Two league controversies soured the last half of the 2006 regular season. On April 23, the league had scheduled the Steubenville Stampede to play at Huntington, with a return visit by Huntington to Steubenville on June 3. However, Steubenville had been given an incorrect schedule and refused to travel to Huntington on April 23 once the error was discovered. The league awarded Huntington a forfeit win and scheduled the Florence Phantoms to play at Huntington on June 10 for its seventh home game. Additionally, in a game between two teams near the top of the standings on May 6, the Canton Legends traveled to Huntington and played with four players not on their roster, including some players from other teams. Canton won the game, 54–41, but controversy followed. Initially, the league gave a forfeit win to the Heroes, but the league later ruled that the Legends would retain the win but pay an $800 fine.
Despite controversy, the Heroes finished the 2006 regular season with a 9–5 record, 4th in the Northern Conference, and qualified for the AIFL playoffs. However, the 2006 season would end in the first round of the AIFL playoffs with a 57–23 loss at #1-seed Reading Express.
On July 28, 2006, the Heroes announced that they were joining the Augusta, Daytona Beach, Rome, and Raleigh to form the World Indoor Football League. However, on August 16, the Heroes announced they would be moving to the Big Sandy Superstore Arena and that they would be remaining in the AIFL. Before the start of the following season, the Heroes joined all other AIFL league teams in disbanding the AIFL and joining the AIFA.
The early 2007 season was marked by quarterback issues. Former Marshall quarterback Jimmy Skinner and Joey Conrad led the team to a slow 3–3 start as well as a loss to the Carolina Speed in the exhibition Charity Bowl. Heroes quarterback coach Dane Damron traded in the headset for a helmet and suited up as started as starting quarterback in the April 7th game against the Erie Freeze. The Heroes, led by Damron at QB, would win seven games in a row (franchise record) before falling by 2 at rival Canton in the final game of the regular season that would determine who had the home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs between the same two teams.
The Heroes finished the 2007 season with a 10–4 regular season record, finishing 3rd in the Northern Conference, and qualifying for the AIFA playoffs. The Heroes made the return trip to Canton the following week, but could not match the intensity of the previous week, losing 76–43.